With major corporate responsibility legislation passed, elected officials are turning to a new target -- business tax evaders -- in a scramble to convince voters they are cracking down on corporate wrongdoing.

Senate hearings today will touch on the topic, but House members got a head start last week. First, they overwhelmingly approved a corporate responsibility bill drafted largely by Senate Democrats. Then, while debating a less-noticed provision in the president's homeland security proposal, 110 Republican members defied their party's leaders to confront another brand of questionable corporate behavior: companies locating overseas to escape U.S. taxes.

The income tax that corporations pay is already passed on to buyers and investors in the prices that you pay for products and reductions in dividends. It is also passed on to employees in the form of lower wages. When companies nominally move offshore, they become more competitive with their foreign counterparts and are able to offer more competitive prices, higher dividends and better wages for the jobs that, it should be noted, stay here.

But, if the Democrats and Republicans in Congress have their way, those companies and more will be forced to move the bulk of their operations offshore, jobs and all. Then, the tax burden will really go up, because there will be a lot more people out of work and off the tax rolls, that will have to be supported by those who still have jobs.

Congress can't even balance their own books. They certainly have no business trying to tell successful companies how to run their business. It's time that we replace about 3/4 of the pseudo-Republicans in Congress with real Republicans.

Note: With one exception (Kay Bailey Hutchison), I have personally not voted for a single Republican incumbent (above county level) in GOP primaries, for more than 10 years. Just for the record, I have no intention of voting for Kay Bailey Hutchison in future primaries.

I believe that the nation of Belize is also a good tax haven, good enough for one of the Dart family( the makers of paper cups) to renounce his U.S. citizenship. There are Carribean nations that make good money of internet gambling, tax shelters will be the big jackpot, if this thing comes to fruition.

With major corporate responsibility legislation passed, elected officials are turning to a new target -- business tax evaders -- in a scramble to convince voters they are cracking down on corporate wrongdoing.

"Congress is rushing to pass a bill outlawing corporate fraud. If they really want to outlaw fraud, maybe they should just pass a bill outlawing Congress."

Here's just one example of what taxpayers money is used for.

"If drugs make you stupid what does that say about someone who declares war on them, inanimate objects that they are, and is losing?"

Fortunately the job creators and market providers chose only to move the books offshore and not the jobs and manufacturing. How long until the U.S. government makes it such a competitive disadvantage that businesses move their entire operations offshore?

Two articles from which I quote a few paragraphs from. Both are from Action America.

The following links are to the US Government's official lists of Taxpatriates, as compiled quarterly by the IRS, required under 26 USC 877(a)(1). Under this law, the people on this list may be taxed for ten years after they renounced their citizenship. Furthermore. under 8 USC 1182(a)(10)(E)), these persons may not be allowed back into the US for any reason.

Every time another millionaire leaves the United States, the US tax base is reduced proportionately and the remaining taxpayers take another small hit. It is the total of all of those small hits that makes this issue significant. But, there is a side to this issue, in which each expatriation is much more significant and that could be potentially much more devastating. I'm not talking about just the wealthy any more. I'm talking about the super-wealthy. BILLIONAIRES!...

...In the discussion that followed, a whole new light began to shine. This billionaire, who I have reason to believe would rank in the top 100, of the 538 billionaires on the Forbes World's Richest People list, was not on the list at all, because of one reason. He chooses not to be. He chooses PRIVACY. But, as he pointed out to me, that would not be enough, if he were still a US citizen....

...As a US citizen, he would have to report to the IRS annually, ALL of his worldwide earnings, regardless of where in the world the income was generated or where it was banked. That would mean that ALL of the financial information necessary to trace his net worth would be accessible in one place. Years ago, as his net worth approached the level that would have placed him on the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list, he found that scenario to be unacceptable; hence, expatriation. Are you beginning to see where this is leading?...

...The point is, that beyond fear of the IRS and their confiscatory powers, the super wealthy have a far more powerful reason for choosing expatriation - their desire for Personal Privacy....

Foreign Wealth is Leaving Too

...It gets even worse. Because of the IRS implementation, earlier this year, of "Qualified Intermediary" (QI) Regulations, privacy concerned foreign billionaires (and millionaires), who have until recently been responsible for large amounts of foreign investment in the United States, are now moving their investments to more "private" jurisdictions, as well. The reason is simple. The QI Regulations require foreign financial institutions who invest client money in the United States to reveal the true identity of individual investors or lose the right to serve as a "Qualified Intermediary" for US investments. Those billionaires (and millionaires) who want to preserve their privacy are just directing those financial institutions to invest their money elsewhere....

...So now, not only is the IRS driving privacy concerned US billionaires out of the United States, with all of their investment capital and tax base, but they are driving privacy concerned foreign billionaires (and millionaires) to invest their wealth offshore, as well. In today's market, there are many other places where the wealthy can invest their money for a similar risk and return, without having to sacrifice their privacy as part of the price.

Sure it is. Although it doesn't specify an economic system per se, our Founders essentially designed a wonderous free market when they drew up the Constitution. Free Trade among the several states who were signatories to the Constitution, bound by a common set of rules, regulations and currency. The Founders considered the tariff to be the least intrusive form of taxation, applicable only to those wishing dependence on foreign goods. Domesticly, Americans were free to enjoy the blessings of their own resources and hard labor, subject to neither income nor sales tax.

It is unconscionable to extend the blessings of our domestic free market to foreign entities not bound by the same set of rules and regulations established by our Constitution to the detriment of our own citizenry.

If an American Company moves off-shore to be more competitive as an US compampny defies logic. The fact they do it to avoid tax US taxes is almost treasonous.

As investor you will pay some Capital gains tax. As worker in those companies you pay an income tax. That all goes in to the coffers to pay for what we demand as tax payers.

Honestly that could be guns or butter, you decide!

So if we pay at the counter or we pay at at April 15th that's ok with you?

My own personal exerience is at the last investment bank where I worked before the lay off. I had a 2 millions infrastructure that project that got canceled. Subsequently they laid of several hundred people: co-workers. Well I made the second round with a few more co-workers. Guess what? The CEO is in a law suit for getting 18 million more than the parent company thought he should get. Well that could of kept a few of us at work.

If an American Company moves off-shore to be more competitive as an US compampny defies logic. The fact they do it to avoid tax US taxes is almost treasonous.

They're only moving their books offshore. It makes them more competitive because it allows them to lower prices, increase return on investment, or raise wages. That is purely logical.

Do you minimize your taxes, or do you just pay willy nilly extra when you don't have to? You see, minimizing your tax bill is not "treasonous", it's just stupid not to do so.

No company can stay in business if it doesn't take advantage of every opportunity to save costs. Why do you spite those who choose to keep their company alive? Dead companies pay zero tax and provide zero jobs.

US companies compete with foreign companies, obviously. But foreign companies don't have the cost of income taxes built into their goods as US goods have. This makes it impossible for US companies to compete. To stay alive, they MUST reduce costs where possible. It is legal and possible to minimize tax as these companies have done, so at least they're still in business providing US jobs!

"I hope it has some real teeth to it. Odds are good that many of these scams are also involved in laundering of illegal drug money."

Willie, Stanley Works, et al, aren't involved in laundering illegal drug money. What they are actually doing is avoiding having to pay US corporate taxes on income that was earned overseas -- and already taxed there.

The US is one of the few countries that indulges in the taxation of profits earned in foreign countries. And that is clearly a very good reason to move the corporate headquarters overseas -- to a PO Box in Bermuda.

There are no jobs being transferred overseas by corporations doing this, Willie. But there will be jobs lost in the US if the IRS continues to tax profits already taxed in foreign countries.

The very best solution to the entire contretemps is to eliminate the corporate taxation altogether!

"We can raise our tariffs and lower our domestic corporate income tax and bestow the blessings of our Constitutional free market to those who are proud to be American."

If they had any interest in doing that, it would already be done. Instead they are spending as if money flowed out of the wind like dust. The real scam artists and theives are the politicians that gain their office from the greedy folks that look for what's in it for them on election day. More government programs, more government employees, more govm'nt studies, more govm'nt controls, restrictions and protections of favored business, all this is in direct competition with Freedom and the Free market you suppose this govm't monster would set free.

The growth of the federal govm't is exploding, along with state and locals. They even coined the term "homeland" to refer to the United States. That's because their tentacles are far reaching and they have global designs in mind. The folks locating overseas are just trying to escape, because they sure aren't going to get tax relief here, unless they're politically favored. What they're trying to escape from isn't a Free market, it's a market infested with parasites and scam artists.

They're only moving their books offshore. It makes them more competitive because it allows them to lower prices, increase return on investment, or raise wages. That is purely logical. Yes they are more competitive becuase they are not paying any taxes to the US. If they are raising wages, please tell me what is the compariosn, Tawiwan? You see, minimizing your tax bill is not "treasonous", it's just stupid not to do so. Your'e right lets use the rules to the best of our advantage, If it's not illegal doesn't mean it isn't immoral. But foreign companies don't have the cost of income taxes built into their goods as US goods have. This makes it impossible for US companies to compete. Are you sure? That's why we have anti-dumpimpig disputes all the time. So much for free trade unless we are the free traders...

There's a simple solution. If they don't want to pay US taxes to help pay for the benefits of doing business here, remove those benefits. No police protection, no fire protection, no roads, sewers, electricity. Extend it to corporate officers along with the business itself.

You said it, and it bears repeating: "The very best solution to the entire contretemps is to eliminate the corporate taxation altogether!

That is a good start, okie01, but doesn't go far enough: The US Tax code needs to be scrapped altogether, and a new one written.

The new US Tax Code should encourage, not punish, work, savings and investment in America, and should eliminate, totally, any smidgen of the class warfare, greed, and envy politics that infests the current code.

Instead of trying to devise artificial ways to punish companies and individuals seeking to maximize their profits and earnings, the Congress should write a simple, fair and easy to administer tax code that encourages and rewards those who want to work, save and invest.

From 1787 until 1913, we had such a code. And the country prospered. Since 1913, the US has had a progressive income tax, and the only segment of the country that has really prospered since then is the government, and those who have friends in high places.

Ayn Rand's prediction that the looters, and their friends, those who have the "power of pull," would take control of the country was very prescient.

We can do something about it -- i.e., run their slimy asses out of power, but it is almost too late.

If you'd like more information about a FReedom based solution which encourages and rewards economic growth and treats all of us with equality under the law, check this link and this link.

I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. [Thomas Jefferson, letter to Benjamin Rush, 1800.]

If an American Company moves off-shore to be more competitive as an US compampny defies logic. The fact they do it to avoid tax US taxes is almost treasonous.

Your lack of understanding of how business works is exceeded only by your understanding of what comprises treason.

First, it is the avoidance of excessive US taxes that allows these expatriating companies to be more competitive with their foreign counterparts. In many cases, it's either that, or eventually be bought out by their more profitable foreign competitors, who do not face such oppressive taxes. After all, our corporate tax rate is one of the highest in the world and the US is one of the very few countries that taxes offshore income.

So, in effect, our lawmakers are forcing our largest companies offshore, either through expatriation or sale to foreign entities. Expatriation makes for a more profitable US company and keeps jobs here. Sale to a foreign entity will, in most cases, mean the loss of US jobs.

Second, as for your ridiculous reference to treason, you should keep in mind that the companies that we are talking about are multinational companies with a multinational shareholder base. In fact, it is entirely possible that some of those companies may have more foreign shareholders than US shareholders. To commit treason, you must first be a citizen of the country against which the crime is to be committed. But a company is not a citizen, as it doesn't vote and it can't hold office. In fact, the only thing that makes a company a US company, is that at the time of incorporation, the US was the most beneficial jurisdiction to incorporate in (just like companies tend to incorporate in Wyoming and Nevada, more than in New York and California, even if they do most of their business in one of those other states).

If US laws change and make it undesirable for these corporations to maintain their US incorporation, and the multinational shareholders vote to move that incorporation or even the whole company, the only thing that could be remotely considered treasonous, is the inept actions of the lawmakers who are creating the conditions that will eventually lead to US economic collapse, if those conditions are not soon reversed.

That's why it is so important to replace most of them (from both parties), with (hopefully) Republicans of integrity and the courage to stand up for their principles.

You're completely wrong if you believe we have adequate representation for the amount (more than 40% and counting) of taxes we pay.

Have you ever tried even getting in contact with a single US Senator to make your voice heard? We are paying literally hundreds if not thousands of times more of our income to the government than the colonies EVER did. And we have about the same amount of power over the legislature that they did. I'd say we are NOT represented at all now - we are overtaxed at a burden that would have caused a second Revolution if the founding fathers were living today.

If US laws change and make it undesirable for these corporations to maintain their US incorporation, and the multinational shareholders vote to move that incorporation or even the whole company, the only thing that could be remotely considered treasonous, is the inept actions of the lawmakers who are creating the conditions that will eventually lead to US economic collapse, if those conditions are not soon reversed.

Excellent point. It is astonishing to me that freepers are justifying all manner of federal bloat and expansion (insanely high taxes, vast encroachments on property rights, etc) all in the name of "the war on terror". One day, perhaps, these same freepers will justify the arrest and imprisonment of Christians, pro-life demonstraters, and gun-owners as necessary 'due to the war on terror'.

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